Franz Josef Helicopter Tours

Most first-time visitors book a 20 to 25 minute scenic flight with a snow landing. The one we feature is the Franz Josef Glacier: Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing with Glacier Country Helicopters: 25 minutes in the air, from $223 per person, and rated 4.8 from 696 GetYourGuide reviews, the most-reviewed flight on this site (our breakdown). Book it for the morning of your first full day in town and keep the next day free. Cloud grounds flights here at short notice, and the spare day is your second chance.

Helicopters are the only way onto Franz Josef Glacier (Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere) for guided trips today. Every price on this site is in US dollars per person, as GetYourGuide shows it, checked October 2026.

The four kinds of flight

Short snow-landing flights last 20 to 25 minutes. You fly over the icefall, land on snow high on the glacier for a few minutes of photos, and fly back. They start at $204 per person on the HeliServices 20-minute flight, the cheapest of the flights we compare. Our snow landing page sets the short flights side by side.

Two-glacier flights take 30 to 35 minutes and add Fox Glacier, or on some days the Tasman, to the same trip, each with a snow landing. They cost $260 to $280. The 35-minute flight over two glaciers from Glacier Country Helicopters is rated 4.9 from 535 reviews. Compare the others on the twin glacier helicopter flight page.

Mt Cook and Grand Circle flights head toward Aoraki/Mt Cook, at 3,724 m the highest mountain in New Zealand, and the Tasman Glacier on the east side of the Main Divide. They run from 30 minutes to an hour and cost $243 to $506. INFLITE’s 30-minute and 60-minute flights land on the Tasman Glacier itself. The Mt Cook helicopter page explains which flight lands where.

Heli-hikes use the helicopter as a short transfer. You land high on the ice with a guide, put on crampons and walk among crevasses and ice formations for up to 2.5 hours, about 4 hours in all from check-in. The Franz Josef Glacier Heli-Hike costs from $508 per person and is rated 4.7 from 404 reviews (our breakdown). Our heli-hike page covers the fitness, age and weight rules. If you are based in Queenstown, one product flies you over by plane for the day, and the Queenstown page shows how it works.

Franz Josef or Fox Glacier

The two villages are about 24 km apart, roughly 25 minutes by road, and both have short snow-landing flights at similar prices, while Fox also has its own heli-hike with up to 3 hours on the ice (see the Fox Glacier helicopter page). Fly from the village you are sleeping in, and if you have not booked a bed yet, our guide to Franz Josef or Fox Glacier compares the two.

What decides the choice

Time in the air comes first. A 20-minute flight gives you the icefall and one landing; 35 to 45 minutes adds a second or third glacier and, on a clear day, Aoraki/Mt Cook; an hour buys two landings or the Grand Circle.

Time on the ground differs by operator. Glacier Helicopters quotes about 6 to 8 minutes on the snow, Glacier Country Helicopters about 10 to 15 minutes including loading, and The Helicopter Line about 10 minutes on its Fox flight. No operator can promise a landing, because the pilot picks the site on the day. To stand on the ice for longer without hiking, the Franz Josef Glacier Guides flight with a glacier landing allows up to 15 minutes on the glacier with a guide, from $395.

Budget and fitness settle the heli-hike question. A heli-hike costs more than twice a short flight ($480 to $508 against $204 to $223) and asks for moderate fitness. Franz Josef Glacier Guides says that if you can walk comfortably for 2 to 3 hours on uneven ground, including steps cut into the ice, you will likely manage. Scenic flights need no fitness, and several listings are marked wheelchair accessible.

Weather and the backup day

Westland Tai Poutini National Park lies in the path of the westerly winds and gets roughly five meters of rain a year or more (DOC says up to five; Franz Josef Glacier Guides says 6 to 8). Rain, wind and low cloud all stop flights, and the mountains can have quite different weather from the township. Operators make the final call at check-in, about 30 minutes before departure. If a GetYourGuide booking is cancelled for weather, you get a reschedule or a full refund.

Glacier Country Helicopters’ own listing says its 25-minute flight has its highest cancellation rate, because it has one route and one landing site, while its longer flights have backup options. So take a morning slot on your first full day, which leaves later slots that day and the whole next day if it is called off. The weather and best time guide goes through the seasons. When your dates are fixed, check availability for the featured flight.

Safety and weight

Pilots decide on the day whether the route and landing are safe, and you get a safety briefing before boarding. Operators check weights at check-in for the aircraft’s weight and balance, and seats are allocated by weight, so you cannot pick one; Glacier Country Helicopters takes front-seat requests 24 hours ahead and confirms them at check-in for a fee. Weight rules differ. Glacier Country Helicopters has no per-person limit but asks passengers of 120 kg or more to buy a Comfort Seat at half the flight price. INFLITE lists a 116 kg limit, and the Franz Josef Glacier Guides heli-hike takes no one over 115 kg.

What a flight costs

On GetYourGuide, short snow-landing flights cost $204 to $223 per person, two-glacier flights $260 to $280, Mt Cook flights $243 to $506, and the standard heli-hikes $480 to $508. The extended heli-hike with lunch is $876, and the Queenstown day trip is $1,128. Operators quote NZ dollars on their own sites. The Franz Josef helicopter price guide lists every flight by price and by minutes in the air.

The free valley walk

You can see the glacier without flying. The Franz Josef Glacier Valley Walk is about 1.7 km return, around 30 minutes and easy, from the car park at the end of the unsealed access road. It ends at a viewpoint about 3 km from the terminal face. The river has cut off the way further up the valley, and foot access onto the ice ended around 2011 to 2012. The track sometimes closes after floods or landslides, and DOC charges for parking. Walk it for the view down the valley, and fly if you want to stand on the ice.

Picking one flight

If you are still torn between two flights, our guide to which Franz Josef helicopter tour to book sets all 20 side by side with a pick for each kind of traveler.